New York Dance

by Donald E. Westlake and Westlake

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340330260
• ISBN13: 9780340330265
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Gotta Hustle!

Note - This book has also been published by a different publishing company under the title Dancing Aztecs so if you've read that one then you've already read this! This classic book was published back in 1976. The title of the book is a clever play on the word Hustle. The Hustle was a popular dance also known as The New York Dance (Westlake explains this to the reader in the story) so he obviously thought most people would know what the title meant. Unfortunately though I had no idea (I wasn't even born when this book was published) and I assume neither do a lot of readers which may explain why no one else has reviewed this book yet ie not many people in the modern era have read it. Also probably explains when Westlake signed up with a new publisher they released this as Dancing Aztecs. A New York Dance however under any name is a really great read. Donald E Westlake novels have taken up a variety of styles and this one is as surreal and humorous as any Carl Hiaasen or Bill Fitzhugh type novel written in recent times. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone. Obviously check out this novel under both titles and get whichever is cheaper. In A New York Dance, Jerry an airport pickup courier runs a scam (hustle as it is constantly referred to within these pages) where he steals and on sells deliveries. He also takes the occasional order so is happy to pick up a crate with the letter A on it and deliver it to a remote car park. When he gets there he is told he has the wrong crate and after witnessing the beating given to the go between man agrees to go and exchange it. Bad luck though the other crates have all been delivered and the replica statues inside given out as prizes. The heavies tell Jerry to forget about it and they'll handle it from here but he knows there's got to be something valuable they're after. Jerry works out the original Aztec Priest statue from South America is worth over a million dollars so decides to obtain the statue himself by enlisting a few of his friends. What follows is an hilarious adventure where Jerry and his bumbling friends encounter holders of the statues who a lot of the time are even dumber than them. As the hunt continues on some of the victims also clock onto what is happening and there's a lot of competition to find the Aztec Priest. A great read up there with Westlake's modern unemployment solution thriller The Ax. Also read Westlake's great comic caper Smoke about a thief who is experimented on by his victims and becomes invisible. Hook and Corkscrew are another example of a Westlake novel published under two different titles but both have the same great story inside about an author with the ultimate solution for writers' block. Read them all!